Having your own startup is exciting, but a lot of focus and strategic planning is required to secure customers without spending too much money on marketing. There are affordable ways to market your startup if you use the minimum resources for maximum impact. Follow these tips to effectively market your startup and gain a loyal customer base who will be happy to share about your startup with family and friends.

Focus On Your Target Audience

Your first instinct may be to get anyone with a credit card to want to buy your product, but every product has a target audience that will be more likely to find the product useful for their life. Figure out who your target audience is and direct your marketing efforts towards them to get their attention. When people feel a company is making it a point to call out to them, they are more likely to pay attention and want to support the company who can serve their unique needs with their products.

Take Full Advantage of Social Media

Social media has become a very effective and popular tool for online marketing, because it is an easy way to reach a large group of people for free. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, and more all provide several ways for you to market your company and your products to an audience who spends a large portion of their time on the internet, whether they are at home on the computer or on-the-go with their phones and tablets. Post engaging content often and you will soon become an essential part of your customers’ everyday lives through videos they can watch, articles they can read, pictures they can view, and quick status updates just to serve as a reminder of your presence.

Reach Out to the Local Community

Find places in your community where you can make your presence known in a way that gives you a chance to serve your community. Host a car wash or barbecue with proceeds going towards a local cause. Sponsor a local event to get your name some coverage. When people associate your company with good qualities like kindness and generosity, they will want to support your company. You could even see if your local newspaper or radio will write up an article about your company or give you a chance to share on the air. People love knowing what is going on in their community, and new startups are intriguing when they are endorsed by media sources the community trusts.

Get a Boost from Bloggers

Reach out to your local online community in a way that will make people want to share your company with family, friends and followers. Find out if bloggers who write within your field would be willing to try out your product and share a review of it on your blog. Get some positive reviews and hundreds or even thousands of readers will be hearing from a source they trust about how great your startup is and how useful your products are, which will make followers want to see for themselves by trying your products.

Incentivize Sharing

Give your customers an incentive to share your product and company and they will be eager to do so. Social media platforms are an easy way to do this: for example, you can promise a coupon or other reward to followers who post a picture of themselves using your product or who post a tweet with a hashtag connected to your startup. Mail out or pass out promotional postcards to leads and customers and promise a discount if they bring the postcard (and a friend) to a local event where you will be marketing your product.

If you make your marketing fun and engaging, you will be amazed at how many people will be eager to support your startup through sharing your name and buying your products. Remember, timing is everything, so grab those customers when their interest is heightened and encourage them to share your hot new startup with everyone they know. Take the right combination of marketing approaches that are best for you and you will be on your way to success.

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Michael Jaccarino is a former tech consultant/business owner of an IT consulting company. After selling off his company, Michael pursued his passion of writing by becoming a freelance journalist. When Michael isn't writing, he spends his spare time working out, playing with his cats, watching soccer and playing with the latest tech gadgets.